EcoFluxx 2.0 Review

EcoFluxx was another game sent to me by Looney Labs. I quite enjoyed this nature themed version of Fluxx and am glad they sent it. Unfortunately I never had the opportunity to play the first version of this game so I will not be able to point out the differences between the two.

One thing I quite enjoyed was that Looney Labs sent with it a promo postcard for the card "Recycling." Recycling is a new rule card that says "Once per turn you may discard a Keeper you have on the table and Draw 3 extra cards."

What's really nice is that Looney Labs is using a new system for their postcards that uses a peel off sheet that holds the card to the post card. This means the cards don't have those punch out edges any more and can actually be used in the game. Allison from Looney Labs recommended that you peel from the side and not the corner with the new postcards to prevent possible splitting.

This game did also include a nice little card that has a picture of the earth on one side with that caption "It's a Nice Planet Can we Keep it?" on it. On the other side of the card some text including a pledge to the earth and informing the customer that 5% of the games proceeds are donated to environmental groups. For a list of groups and more information on the donations please go here.

Something I never noticed until now is that all the Looney Labs boxes say "made with recycled paper" on them. I do not know if this is just the box or if the cards are as well.

One thing I noticed right away when playing the game is that the color borders on the cards aren't solid colors. They actually have small pictures in them, leafs for keepers, what I believe is flowers or berries for goals, stars for new rules, rain drops for actions, and cracks for creepers. The effect is very subtle but adds a bit of individuality to this version of Fluxx.

The game plays like any standard version of Fluxx but there are some things that make it stand out. For one thing is the 11 "eating goals." These are goals where the player that has one animal keeper and if someone else has a specific animal keeper, the first player wins because his keeper eats the other person's keeper. For example "Snakes Eat Mice" the player with the keeper "Snakes" wins if someone else has the keeper "Mice."

Another thing to point out is this version of Fluxx does not have as many Creepers as other versions like Zombie Fluxx or Martian Fluxx, but in this version nobody can win if there is a creeper on the table. I enjoyed this difference in the way they handled creepers in this game. It made things more interesting.

I enjoyed this card game very much and would highly recommend it to anyone looking for another version of Fluxx to play or for someone looking for a fun way to teach about nature to children. Looney Labs wrote some resources for using EcoFluxx to teach children. Here are a couple of my favorite cards from this version.

Favorite New Rule: Composting, Whenever you draw a card may choose choose to take the bottom card from the discard pile instead of the top card of the draw pile. It is OK to look at the bottom card first.

Favorite Goal: Mammals, The player with any 3 of the following Keepers in play wins: Bears, Rabbits, Bats, or Mice.

Favorite Action: Mass Migration, All players choose one of their Keepers in play and pass it to the left or right (you decide which directions).

Favorite Keeper: Poison, Once in play Poison protects your other Keepers from being Eaten.

Favorite Creeper: Flood, When your turn ends, discard your hand and give this to the next player. When this gets back to the player who had it first discard it.

Buy EcoFluxx Here